Same Day and Urgent Care is delivered by a diverse range of healthcare professionals.

The work is time-critical, high-pressure, and unpredictable making the workforce vulnerable to poorer mental and physical health and reduced well-being.

This affects sickness levels, job satisfaction, performance and ultimately the quality of patient care.

Staff recruitment and retention are among the most difficult in the NHS creating challenges in providing timely and safe care to patients when they need it most.

The Same Day and Urgent Care Workforce Research Partnership — or SURGE — brings together clinical and academic partners, service planners, patients, and the public to identify key challenges in ambulance services, primary care, emergency departments, and urgent community response.

Over five years we’ll co-design research to tackle the most pressing workforce issues, ranging from national evaluations to rapid reviews and scoping studies.

Using real-world evidence we aim to support the wellbeing, development and retention of the same day and urgent care workforce improving experiences for staff and patients.

The SURGE partnership will provide impactful, rapidly transferable evidence to help employers build a stronger, more sustainable workforce.